The invention relates to handheld circular saws, and more particularly to a rip guide designed for incorporation with such a handheld circular saw.
It has long been necessary to trim sheets of building materials, for example the standard 4xe2x80x2xc3x978xe2x80x2 sheet of plywood, wood paneling or gypsum wall board, to a precise width; for carpenters working on the job, the handheld circular saw is the tool of choice for such a trimming operation. To provide a precise straight edge at the cut or trimmed location, a number of different types of guides for such circular saws have been proposed. Examples of some these are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,676,624, 2,773,523, 2,800,933, 4,128,940, 4,356,748, 4,453,312, 4,852,257, 4,945,799, 5,103,566, 5,279,037, 5,815,931, 5,815,933, and 5,901,450.
Although of each of the foregoing has had particular advantages and although the variety of guides available have varied in complexity, no one guide has been widely accepted, i.e. as one that is capable of economical construction while yet being universally suited to precisely trim a large range of materials. Accordingly, improved constructions for a rip guide for a handheld circular saw were sought.
The invention provides a handheld circular saw which incorporates an improved rip guide, as well as a rip guide itself which can be incorporated with commercially available circular saws. Such handheld circular saws incorporate an electric motor disposed within a housing, which rotates a shaft to which the circular saw blade is attached, with the housing being adjustably supported on a flat plate which rests against the flat surface of the piece being trimmed, and the guide is removably attached to the upper surface of the flat foot assembly. The adjustable guide includes a longitudinally extending elongated flat bar which is stepped at a location intermediate its length to provide flat upper and lower sections which are in straight-line alignment. Means is provided for mounting the flat upper bar section upon the upper surface of the circular saw foot assembly so that the longitudinally extending bar is precisely parallel to the axis about which the circular saw rotates, with its stepped portion in abutting contact with an edge of the circular saw foot assembly. A holder is slidably movable along the lower bar in such a manner that a guide member carried below the holder (which includes straight-line defining means, e.g. a flat surface, that will be slid along the edge of the workpiece being trimmed) is maintained at a precise distance from and precisely parallel to the plane in which the circular saw blade rotates.
The invention provides a particularly compact universal rip guide for a handheld circular saw which is capable of facilitating accurate and true cuts and which saves the user immeasurable time in a situation where there is a desire to make repetitive cuts of a precise nature.